Ferraris for all

Two more examples of the popularity of the post-apocalyptic genre. This evening the BBC Survivors programme – a remake of a 1970s series – was first aired. It is the cheery tale of a world in which a global flu pandemic has killed 90% of the population. This week also saw the launch in Britain of Blindness, a movie about a world in which millions of people have gone blind.

For more on the “post-apocalyptic” genre see posts of 24 April 2008, 9 September 2008, 19 October 2008. I have also created an “apocalyptic” tag.

Labels: apocalyptic, film, television

Rob Killick reminds us in a review of the Beider Meinhoff Complex on spiked that anti-materialism was a significant trend in 1960s radicalism. He portrays the leaders of the 1960s Germany terrorist gang as an extreme part of a broader trend which saw itself: “as part of an international movement of opposition to imperialism, but made no effort to build links with the working class in Germany, which they saw as in thrall to capitalist consumerist ideology”. Killick ends with the correct point that the elitist belief in a stupid consumerist working class is now widespread.

Labels: consumption, Europe, film, spiked

This evening I was interviewed by Al Jazeera on this week’s market and economic developments.

Labels: economics, film, media appearances, television

An interesting article by Sameer Panya in Miller McCune on apocalyptic visions in movies, popular books and TV. Examples he points to include the Dark Knight (the latest Batman movie - evidently shows the Joker trying to destroy the world for sheer pleasure), Wall-E (see my post of 21 July 2008), Battlestar Gallactica (the recent TV version) and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road ( a novel which comes out as a film later this year). Two recent books examine this phenomenon: In Apocalyptic Dread by Kirsten Moana Thompson and Shocking Representation by Adam Lowenstein.

I wrote about apocalpytic visions in non-fiction in my post of 24 April 2008. I also used the introduction from Mad Max II to introduce my recent Fund Strategy feature on oil (see 26 August 2008 post).

Such visions seem to represent, in an extreme form, the fear of the future that is so prevalent at present.

Labels: apocalyptic, book, film

The BBC2 Newsnight programme this evening completely succumbed to the panic about water shortages. Its underlying assumption was simple: population growth and industrialisation are leading to greater use of this scarce commodity. This in turn is leading to the prospect of conflict and even water wars worldwide.

Sadly none of the studio guests challenged the fetishisation of water. It is wrong to see water as causing conflict – water is just “stuff” – the problem is the lack of investment in infrastructure to ensure everyone has enough water. Nor is it true that water is a finite resource (see, for example, posts of 22 August 2006, 19 October 2006 and 12 March 2008).

Worldwrite is also producing a documentary on this topic called Flush It!. Hopefully it will provide an antidote to such scare-mongering. Its premiere is at the Battle of Ideas festival on 2 November.

Labels: consumption, environment, film, television, water, Worldwrite

Not Evil Just Wrong, an anti-environmentalist documentary by two Irish film-makers, sounds interesting. From an account in the Sunday Times (London) it sounds like a much needed antidote to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.

Labels: climate, environment, film

Spiked has run my review of Wall-E, Disney Pixar’s new anti-consumerist movie featuring a recycling robot as its central character and humans as little more than fat blobs.

Labels: apocalyptic, consumption, ethics, film, spiked

The green message is so pervasive nowadays that it extends from children’s cartoons (see 13 July 2008 post) to god. Speaking at an event in Sydney, Australia, this week the pope recycled the predictable message of self-restraint and anti-consumption:

“Religions have a special role in this regard, for they teach people that authentic service requires sacrifice and self-discipline, which in turn must be cultivated through self-denial, temperance and a moderate use of the world’s goods. In this way, men and women are led to regard the environment as a marvel to be pondered and respected rather than a commodity for mere consumption. It is incumbent upon religious people to demonstrate that it is possible to find joy in living simply and modestly, generously sharing one’s surplus with those suffering from want.”

Evidently for god’s representative on earth “living simply and modestly” - what most people call poverty - should be treated as a joy. Let us pray that he is not taken seriously.

Labels: consumption, ethics, film

Evidently Wall-E, a new animated movie from Pixar, argues if we do not curb our consumption we will destroy the world. According to an article in Slate critics have widely welcomed the outlook it expresses:

“So what is this powerful and profound message? Wall-E tells us that if we don't change the way we live, we'll all get really fat and destroy the world. The plot begins with the idea that a megacorporation called Buy N Large has essentially taken over the planet and induced so much consumption and waste that humans must escape their dying planet on an enormous, space-faring cruise ship. Once onboard, their self-destructive tendencies only get worse: After 700 years adrift, humans have grown too bloated to walk and too lazy to think.”

Labels: apocalyptic, consumption, environment, film

It seems that British documentary film-makers are becoming obsessed with cheap labour in India. After the awful Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts on BBC (see 18 April 2008 and 14 May 2008 posts) it seems that Panorama has a programme on the topic next week while Channel 4 is planning one entitled The Devil Wears Primark (see 1 June 2008 post).

In a pre-emptive strike against possible criticism from Panorama it seems that Primark, a bargain clothes retailing chain, has cut ties with Indian suppliers that used child labour.

There seems to be little understanding that simply cutting such ties is likely to make the plight of poor Indians worse. Child labour is a symptom of extreme poverty rather than its cause.

It is reminiscent of the spoilt western fashionistas in Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts hectoring Indian workers about how their working conditions are “disgusting”. Indians are well aware that they are poor - the difficult part is finding ways to make them rich.

The broader context for this discussion is the feigned concern for developing country workers from the likes of Joseph Stiglitz (see 6 May 2008 post).

Labels: consumption, ethics, film, india, inequality

I was planning to watch The Devil Wears Primark, yet another documentary on Indian sweatshops (see posts of 18 April 2008 and 14 May 2008), on Channel 4 this evening. However, despite being trailed last week, it seems to have mysteriously disappeared from the TV listings. Perhaps satanic forces associated with the cheap clothes retailer are at work?

Labels: consumption, film, india, inequality

Tonight watched the Life after people documentary on Channel 4. It was based on an interesting thought experiment: what would happen to the earth if humans suddenly disappeared. The documentary looked at the Earth at different time periods of humanity’s disappearance to see how long signs of humanity would survive. No doubt many environmentalists would see it as showing that humanity is simply a thin veneer on the surface of the earth – nature would quickly reclaim the planet. But it would also be possible to wonder at how much humans have reshaped the planet in their relatively short time on Earth. Josie Appleton also wrote a review article on the same subject for spiked last year.

Last night I watched the 11th Hour, a 2007 environmentalist documentary presented and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, on Channel 4. The programme was predictably awful but at least it had the virtue of spelling out some of the misanthropic (and often absurd) premises of environmentalist thought. For example, the view that humans are simply part of nature, the hostility to attempts to control nature, the idea that nature should somehow be endowed with rights and the notion of eco-systems services.

Labels: celebrities, environment, film, spiked

I am hardly a regular reader of Marie Claire but I was struck by how its June eco-chic edition managed to combine environmentalism, beauty and celebrity. Amid the adverts for brands such as D&G, Estee Lauder and Clinique are Cate Blanchett endorsing Marie Claire’s campaign to stop global warming, profiles of Hollywood stars turned eco-campaigners (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal and Julia Roberts) and an interview with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

I was particularly amused by the “Message from our associates” at coolaworld:

“Just being cool is a beautifully simple way to save the planet”.

“Being cool means having a passionate relationship with the world around you, a growing awareness of where things come from and how they arrive. Being cool is shopping to save the planet, saying yes to tap water and no to excess packaging. Being cool is ‘Fashion without Heart’ and food without air miles and, because it helps you feel good about the environment, being cool will always be considered stylish and smart.”

If such self-obsession is considered “cool” then I’m all in favour of some warming.

Labels: celebrities, consumption, environment, film, food

The cover story of today’s New York Times magazine looks at celebrities and the causes they support. It focuses particularly on Natalie Portman as she is evidently an “ambassador” for the Foundation for International Community Assistance (Finca) a microfinance organisation. Others mentioned in the piece include Bono, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

No doubt even many of the critics would argue that at least celebrities do some good by raising “awareness” of important issues. In fact, as Mick Hume has previously argued on spiked, such initiatives are typically based on the assumption that the West has to “save” the people of the third world from themselves. In the case of Natalie Portman she is – inadvertently no doubt – reinforcing low horizons in relation to development when she promotes microfinance.

Labels: development, ethics, film, finance, spiked

Worldwrite has produced two new short films. Cash Back is a look at the importance of remittances to economic development in the third world. For the poorest countries it can be several times the amount of official development assistance or foreign direct investment. I’m a Subsistence Farmer Get Me Out of Here is an attack on those who romanticise the lives of those who are tied to the land (itself a shortened form of a more substantial documentary made by Worldwrite). Both films can be viewed online by clicking on the links.

Labels: aid, development, economics, film, Worldwrite

A new documentary from Worldwrite, an education charity, examines the question of corruption from an African perspective. In Corruptababble two young South Africans, Brendon and Yolanda, travel around London and Edinburgh to gauge perceptions of corruption. Virtually everyone they speak to sees corruption as a big problem in Africa but few come even close to being able to back up their arguments. Most simply assert that corruption must be largely to blame for Africa’s difficulties while many others argue it is a more extreme form of corruption in the West.

The people shown to have the most coherent explanation for corruption are free marketers speaking at a conference on development. They argue in detail that Africa is poor because predatory African elites have siphoned off money for their own benefit. But such arguments have a strongly apologetic character. Blaming Africans for the continent’s lack of development is a way of diverting responsibility from the West or the weaknesses of the market system.

Corruptababble is a step towards challenging one of the most enduring myths about Africa. Anyone who supports African development needs to be able to challenge the unhealthy obsession with corruption.

Labels: Africa, corruption, film, Worldwrite

Worldwrite, an education charity which produces films promoting third world development, has produced its first newsreel. The film is based on a critical discussion of the recent G8 summit of world leaders. I was on the panel along with Philip Cunliffe and Stuart Simpson (see 29 May post). It can currently be viewed from the Worldwrite homepage here.

Labels: Africa, development, film, media appearances, Worldwrite

Russell Jacoby, a professor of history at UCLA, has written an astute review article in the Nation on the redefinition of capitalism in terms of consumption. Although the idea is not new in itself a new book on consumer culture by Benjamin Barber, a political theorist, takes it further by arguing that the latest stage of capitalism is driven by an “infantilist ethos”. However, Jacoby argues that this idea is not really developed. Instead Barber takes readers on a familiar discussion of “hyper-consumerism” driven by privatisation, branding and total marketing.

Jacoby is also sceptical about the solutions that Barber offers:

“In the last section of the book Barber sketches out "a moderate and democratic way" to resist consumer capitalism. He wants to restore capitalism to "its primary role" as an efficient producer and to uphold the "democratic public" as the regulator of "our plural life worlds." But the weakness of his ideas shows through his PowerPoint presentations. He locates three types of consumer resistance and subversion: "I will discuss them under the rubrics cultural creolization, cultural carnivalization and cultural jamming." By creolization, he means the effort to turn market brands against the market, where commodification serves heretical groups or movements, like Hasidic rock, in which ultra-orthodox Gad Elbaz sets pious lyrics to throbbing rhythms. By "jamming" Barber means tactics derived mainly from Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine. In Lasn's words, the jammers paint their "own bike lanes, reclaim streets, 'skull' Calvin Klein ads, and paste GREASE stickers on tables and trays at McDonald's restaurants." “

Jacoby also criticises other ideas by Barber on muting the impact of the market:

“In addition to his three forms of cultural resistance Barber comes up with other, more disparate, perhaps desperate, efforts to rein in the market--such as consumer activism (dolphin-safe tuna), creative video games (SimCity) and especially George Clooney movies (Good Night, and Good Luck and Syriana). Barber is only the latest progressive to go gaga over Hollywood. He dreams its milquetoast offerings are revolutionary provocations. Movies like Bulworth, with Warren Beatty, and American Dreamz, with Hugh Grant, demonstrate Hollywood's "own dialectical capacity to generate rebellion and subversion." It is more likely that they demonstrate Barber's capacity for wishful thinking. The ravages of the market in the impoverished Third World also catch Barber's attention--at least for ten pages. Here too he finds counter-movements or partial remedies like Doctors Without Borders's 500-calorie Plumpy Nut bar, which is "a miracle cure for the starving," and Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus's idea of microcredits for the very poor.”

So, at least judging by Jacoby’s review, Barber has an insight into the contemporary market he does not properly pursue. As a result Barber comes up with mundane solutions to what he sees as the problem.

Labels: America, book, consumption, film, finance

Yesterday I spoke at the worldwide premiere of Think Big, a new documentary by Worldwrite, at an event organised by the Great Debate in Newcastle (see 4 January post). The film shows how Ghanaians have the same ambitions and needs as Westerners. Like those in the developed world they want comfortable homes, access to modern technology and fulfilling worse. Only in a relatively poor country like Ghana it is harder to achieve such goals.

Like most Western audiences those in Newcastle said they were all in favour of development. Yet, also in a typical way, they then raised concerns about corruption, the environment, inequality and indigenous culture. I countered by arguing that the debate about development nowadays does not typically take the form of a clash between those who are in favour and those who are consciously against. Instead the mainstream view redefines development in a narrower way in response to the kinds of concerns outlined above. So what today passes for “development” is in fact hostile to the genuine modernisation, urbanisation and industrialisation of poorer societies.

Labels: Africa, development, film, speeches, Worldwrite

Last weekend I debated the Battle for Affluence at the Battle of Ideas festival. The thrust of my argument was that affluence has proved enormously beneficial for humanity and will continue to do so. In contrast others, such as Professor Avner Offer of Oxford university and Mark Easton of the BBC, argued that our preoccupation with prosperity has gone too far. In their view other factors, such as well-being, should be the main focus of government policy. Others on the panel included Professor Nicholas Crafts of Warwick university and Jenny Davey of the Times (London). Later that evening I also debated Professor Offer on BBC Radio Five Live.

At the conference I also chaired a session in which Damned by Debt Relief, a film made by Worldwrite, had its world premiere. The film showed how the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative imposes new conditions on the poor but does not offer any new money. A trailer for the film can be viewed here.

Other sessions at the weekend included a debate on the “happiness trap” and a series on the Battle over Nature.

Labels: affluenza, film, happiness, media appearances, radio, speeches, Worldwrite

I hesitate to write too much on climate change because it could easily become a full-time preoccupation. But given it is increasingly used as the ultimate argument against affluence it is difficult to avoid devoting time to it.

George Monbiot’s new book on climate change, serialised in three parts in the Guardian, provides a model of how not to conduct the debate. Yesterday there was an article on 'the denial industry' which focused on ExxonMobil. He made a similar film for the BBC Newsnight programme which was broadcast this evening. The main point of both was that ExxonMobil is financing “climate change deniers” – including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute, the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, the Reason Foundation and the Independent Institute – to misrepresent the truth on climate change in order to protect its profits.

There are two reasons why this argument is flawed. First, the fact that anyone receives finance from a particular source, even one with a vested interest, does not prove that an argument is wrong. I could be paid by the Devil Inc to produce this website but that does not invalidate my arguments (as it happens I am entirely self-financed). Second, it is misleading to talk to climate change “denial”. Only a lunatic would deny that the climate is changing and most specialists seem to accept that humans have played a role in warming. What needs to be debated is the character of the change (a scientific question) and how best to respond to it (a political question).

Monbiot cites a website with the sole aim of exposing Exxon . He has also set up a new website of his own , along with Mark Lynas and Joss Garman, to argue solely on climate change. There is also a speaking tour on the book.

Labels: book, climate, corporations, environment, film, television

Spiked has today published my review of An Inconvenient Truth. In it I argue that Al Gore’s dogmatic documentary embodies the worst possible response to climate change. It can be found by clicking on the appropriate link in the reviews section on the bar on the left hand side of this site.

However, as a critique of Gore’s pretentious style it is hard to do better than South Park. An Inconvenient Truth was ruthlessly lampooned in its episode on ManBearPig.

Labels: climate, film, review, spiked, television

Three short versions of Worldwrite documentaries, putting the case for real development from different angles, are now available on the internet. Bisease story – A letter to Geldof looks at Bob Geldof’s broken promises to a Ghanaian village. Damned by Debt Relief examines the grim reality of the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative on debt relief. Carry on up the NGO shows that non-governmental organisations do not cater for the real needs of people in the third world. The films can be viewed for free at documentary-film.net although registration is required.

Labels: Africa, development, film, Worldwrite

Much of my writing on growth scepticism has appeared on Spiked-online; an independent online publication which describes itself as having the modest ambition of making history as well as reporting it. My recent articles include a contribution to its Enlightening the future 2024 project and a piece on the extradition of the “NatWest three” to Texas from Britain. The latter is a first attempt at dealing with what could be called the “paradox of inequality”: those who have the least suffer the most as a result of contemporary attacks on affluence. I also sometimes write on other topics, such as my essay on Steven Spielberg’s film Munich , but these articles will not generally appear on this site.

Labels: corruption, film, inequality, review, spiked

The slogan “Ferraris for all” comes for Worldwrite; an education charity campaigning for real development in the third world. Ceri Dingle, the director of the charity, was evidently asking some of its volunteers what they would really like to have. They said Ferarris. I am sure they did not necessarily mean it literally. No doubt Lamborghinis, McLarens or Maseratis would do for some. The point is that everyone should have access to the best that the world has to offer.

I appeared in the Bitter Aftertaste; a short documentary Worldwrite made criticising fair trade. To view the film on the internet click HERE. I have also written an article on the subject, called the coffee con , for Spiked.

On 28 October I will be chairing a discussion of Worldwrite’s new film Damned by Debt Relief at the Battle of Ideas festival. In 2005 I wrote an article on debt relief for Spiked.

Labels: development, film, media appearances, speeches, spiked, trade, Worldwrite